Autumn 2009
Lecture-
The Way of the Sage: Jung and the Tao
Gary Toub, Ph.D, Jungian Analyst
Being in Tao means flowing with life and living in harmony with one’s true nature. Several thousand years ago, Chinese philosophers wrote about living in Tao. Best known is Lao Tzu, whose work, Tao Te Ching, has attained worldwide popularity. Taoism had a profound impact on C. G. Jung and supported his discoveries about individuation and living in accord with the Self. Dr. Toub’s own experience with the unconscious led him to study Taoist ideas and practices in great depth, particularly as they paralleled Jung’s thinking. With the help of images, Dr. Toub’s lecture and slide presentation will explore the wisdom of Lao Tzu, the I Ching, and other Taoist sages in considering how we ourselves might live in accord with our inner nature and the unfolding mystery of life. Emphasis will be on bringing together Taoist and Jungian thought, and on their applications in day-to-day life.
Observations made in my practice have opened to me a quite new and unexpected approach to Eastern wisdom. But it must be well understood that I did not have a knowledge, however inadequate, of Chinese philosophy as a starting point. On the contrary, when I began my life-work in the practice of psychiatry and psychotherapy, I was completely ignorant of Chinese philosophy, and only later did my professional experience show me that in my technique I had been unconsciously led along that secret way which has been the preoccupation of the East for centuries. – C.G. Jung, (CW 13, Par. 10)
Lecture-
The Secret of Home
Lindsay Halton
Our homes hold our whole life-story. Carl Jung described his own selfbuilt house at Bollingen as a representation in stone of his innermost thoughts that held the secrets of his innermost being. Jung said that to know a patient’s secret story is to have a key to their treatment. This talk will guide the audience on the homesouls™ journey. We will enter the hidden landscape of the home, go beyond the drama and the pain of life into the story of the home, and look for what is hidden in the details. We will see how to look at and work with our homes as a reflection of what is happening in our whole life-story.
Workshop: Home as a Mirror of Self
The idea of homesoulsTM is in one sense ancient — an incarnation of Feng Shui and the Celtic Wheel of Life — and in another sense it is only fifteen years old. There is so much wonder and delight in this subject at its adolescent stage of creation and Lindsay Halton will be its architect, author and guide during this workshop. He will open this subject to the experience of “Jung’s house”, engage with Jung’s dreams, and reminisce about the tower house Jung built for himself.
In Lindsay’s hands, the ancient Feng Shui plan becomes a story-map of eight archetypal elements that provide intuitive pathways into the body of memory we call home. Following your own storyline, this workshop will lead you through the corridors of your own experience where your stories manifest in the “stuff” that surrounds you. Room by room, Lindsay will guide you to enter the story of your home and ask, “What calls to me here as I stand in this place?” This workshop will take you further into the interior landscape of home as a theatre of the Soul as you embark on a journey to uncover what is hidden or missing in your life.
Panel Discussion-
Jung and the World Today
Moderator: Stephen Foster, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst
Panalists:
Deborah Bowman, Ph.D.,
Robert A. Diehl, M.A.,
Bernice Hill, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst,
Jeffrey Kiehl, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst
Jungian thought is often viewed as being purely of individual value, but these ideas are of critical importance to our world that is in great turmoil. Economic, political and environmental crises continue to grow and trouble nations and individuals. Carl Jung was aware of the problems facing the collective world. He felt that fundamentally these problems arose from our lack of consciousness. The panel will discuss the relevance of Jung’s ideas to a range of world issues. Short film segments and Jung’s writings on collective problems will be shown. Panel members will reflect on how these concepts provide a means to understand the problems facing the world today. The format will involve four panelists and a moderator, who will encourage the audience to participate in a discussion of how Jung’s thought can aid in exploring the present day world. The Jungian concepts we will explore include shadow, collective projection and the world soul.
Concept Series- A Film Series on Relationship
Modern life is often filled with separation and alienation and our society has created a world filled with distractions. Given the hectic lives we all live, it is easy to become isolated from others. Carl Jung felt that being in relationship with others was essential for our individuation and stated, “Individuation is impossible without relationship.” This film series provides rich stories and images for us to explore the transformation from an isolated life to one of relatedness and animation. These films, each in their own way, show how the presence of others is vital for our individuation process.
Movie: Stranger Than Fiction – Jeffrey Kiehl
Is our life written for us? What is it like to receive a calling in life? Do we choose to follow the call or not? These are some of the deep questions explored in this fascinating film about Harold Crick, a taxman. In the midst of his provisional existence, Harold discovers his life is literally being written for him by a disembodied voice. Ironically, it is this disturbing discovery that sets Harold on a very different path in life. Stranger Than Fiction explores how important it is to find meaning in life and if a greater purpose or telos exists for us. The film provides vivid images of living a provisional life compared to one based on a process of individuation.
Movie: Lars and the Real Girl – Nancy Ortenberg
In this moving story of deep psychological wounding and redemption, the landscape of the psyche is revealed for all to see. At a pivotal moment in Lars’ life, his anima or soul calls in the form of a mail-order, full-sized female doll named Bianca and we become witness to the healing nature of the unconscious through the imagination. Under the wise guidance of the town’s female physician, Lars’ imagination leads the way. Bianca is embraced and treated as a living, breathing, flesh-and- blood woman not just by Lars, but also by his family and entire community. Through this process of implicit trust in the psyche’s powerful drive toward healing and individuation, a tender birth of new possibilities for Lars comes into being.
Movie: Bleu – Linda Schierse Leonard
Blue is a film about a woman left bereft after the deaths of her husband and daughter in a car crash. Her husband was chosen to compose the music for the unification of Europe, and we are left with the protagonist, Julie, and her reactions to this tragic event. We are also left with the mystery of if-and-how the concerto can be completed, and who actually wrote it. Blue shows a woman going through a “dark night of the soul”, whether she comes to grips with it and the creative process itself. Blue is the first of a trilogy (Blue, White, Red) last produced by Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski prior to his early death. The music is haunting.
Movie: Nell: The Wild Child in the Woods – Stephen Foster
It is appropriate that we celebrate the life of Natasha Richardson with the movie Nell, which came early in her marriage to Liam Neeson. The film is a U.S. remake of L’enfant Sauvage, a 1970 film directed by Francois Truffaut. It interweaves the relationship between two high-functioning but wounded adults with the life of the young woman, Nell, who was raised in the backwoods by an aphasic mother. After the death of her personal mother, the Great Mother holds Nell, but society still finds her. Nell is a metaphor for our own inner child, who longs to be held by nature but finds him/herself in conflict with the outer world.
